The View From 1776

Do States Still Have Constitutional Rights?

Melanie Wooten raises some important questions.

A Rose by Any Other Name
(A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Totalitarianism)

By Rattlesnake Central - Melanie Wooten

“United States corporation” and the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 - more anti-”banker” misinfo (disinfo?)

I have always been fascinated by the fact that we wandered off the reservation of CONSTITUTION FOR the united STATES of AMERICA and went to Constitution of the United States of America.  I knew that the language of the original broadsides was critical to our very existence as a Nation, but I had no idea when or how or why the change was effected.  The argument stated in the above link not only provides the key to my contentions but it also sets out the basis of District of Columbia v Heller (No. 07-290). 

Basically, if the Constitution of the United States (Civil Rights Act of 1871) can trump the Constitution for the united States (I do that deliberately!), we are done for because we have admitted that the federal law passed to establish, define and govern federal property, i.e., the Civil Rights Act of 1871, called Constitution of the United States, which applies ONLY to the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, et al., can govern us, the citizens of the individual states, i.e., CONSTITUTION FOR the united STATES of AMERICA, in areas outside federal jurisdiction.

The fact that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has decided to hear arguments on the right of a citizen of a federal territory (Heller) to own a gun in a federal territory (District of Columbia) should wave a bright flag of warning to those of us who still believe in the CONSTITUTION for the united STATES of AMERICA.  The truth of the matter is that unless the individual states decide and legislate individually that it is illegal for a citizen in THAT state to possess a gun in THAT state, the decision will be in actuality no more than a fart in a tornado.  We have been conditioned to believe that laws passed governing federal territories apply to the states.  NOT TRUE!  We have GIVEN UP our rights; they did not take them!  The truth is that under the CONSTITUTION for the united STATES of AMERICA, I do have the right to keep and bear arms, but taking a gun to a national park (a federal territory governed by the Constitution of the United States) is a no-no (or was until recently).  Case decided; no problem!!

Throughout our history, we have had decisions made that drew the bright line of where federal jurisdiction ended and the states’ jurisdictions began.  The best-known example is the Dred Scot decision, where SCOTUS ruled that the law in the state where Dred Scot originally lived required that Mr. Scot be turned back to his owner because under extant law, he was the property of the owner.  Case closed.

During WWII, there was a Hawaiian case, Duncan v. Kahanamoku, 327 U.S. 304 (1946), where a defense worker waiting to enter his work area (federal land) got into an altercation with another worker and was arrested by the Marines guarding the premises.  The case arose when he was moved around the island of Oahu and his rights under habeas corpus were denied him, but because his attorneys could prove that Hawaii was not in imminent danger of invasion, a pre-requisite for suspension of habeas corpus, the military governorship was null and void, so Mr. Duncan had to be released.  The decision of the state courts was subsequently overturned on the basis of evidence that the offenses complained of had occurred on federal property.  Case closed.  Bottom line:  if we don’t like a law, change the law; don’t ask the courts to do the legislature’s job! 

Like it or not, the post-Roosevelt SCOTUS turned modern America upside down when it said that the federal government could tell the states what they can and cannot do based on something other than the Constitution, which is the only arena over which SCOTUS has jurisdiction.  In other words, SCOTUS was permitted to legislate morality, distinctly outside its purview!  Since the Constitution had irrevocably and subtlety changed in 1871, and before that in 1867, by the 14th Amendment, precedents were established under which we are still reeling. 

If SCOTUS rules that DC law under which the Heller case was brought trumps the Constitution; specifically, the 2nd Amendment, we have willingly laid bare our necks to the yoke of the federal government and yet another right of the individual states will have been handed over, not taken.  The last time I looked, only the 3rd Amendment remains untouched by presidential fiat or federal decisions, and then only because we have not been ordered to feed and quarter federal troops at federal command under our own roofs!

All of these individual skermishes (gold-fringed flag, gun control on federal lands, establishment of jurisdiction over schools, churches, etc.) are strangely reminiscent of those situations giving rise to the War Between the States.  Anyone who has studied our history understands that this war was fought because the States believed that THEY controlled the federal government.  The War of Northern Aggression (look at the map before you screech!) came as a direct result of an individual state (South Carolina) refusing to turn over collected taxes to President Lincoln, who sent gunboats to obtain said taxes.  We all know what happened after that.

I do not pretend to know where this will end.  I do know that we have fifty states who each came into the union individually under broadly different circumstances, such as Texas and California who were republics before joining/being annexed to the united States; Virginia, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Virginia who were commonwealths; others whose government forms I have forgotten (I are old; cut me some slack!) I also know that “E Pluribus Unum” ("From many, one") stands in grave danger of being totally irrelevant.  The State of Montana has refused to comply with federal edict(s) and is threatening to secede; Texas is making similar noises.  All states are straining under the burden of non-funded mandates, which are no more than attempts by a federal government to bring the states involved back into line.  The dialogue is almost word-for-word that of the Confederate states prior to the bombing of Ft. Sumter, so if other states decide to confront the federal government over what it can and cannot control, I tremble for my Country.  My only consolation is that at age 68 I probably will not see the total disintegration of my America.

When we were taught our history, we learned of the “Immortal Trio”:  John C. Calhoun of South Carolina; Henry Clay of Kentucky; Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, who guided the American ship of state in the turbulent years before the War Between the States.  Daniel Webster was a staunch defender of the Constitution, stating:  We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land—nor, perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution.

Our Constitution was hijacked over 150 years ago and for that length of time, we have been re-arranging the deck chairs on our sinking ship of state while our federal government steers America ever closer to the shoals that would cause her to founder.  What is at stake now is will we raise our eyes, and arms, in time to save her?